UC Davis Arboretum's 'beloved green warrior' fighting cancer again

For almost a decade, Taylor Lewis has been an ever-smiling leader and garden guru at the UC Davis Arboretum’s Teaching Nursery.

As nursery manager, he oversees the production of thousands of plants each spring and fall. He is often their best salesman, too, making recommendations of water-wise wonders that not only look beautiful but can help make our suburban neighborhoods more environmentally friendly.

He’s maintained his sunny can-do attitude through myriad challenges including the 2017 loss of his lower right leg to cancer.

After years of remission, that cancer is back. Lewis is now undergoing treatment for angiosarcoma, an extremely rare form of cancer.

“It’s pretty rare for someone to get it once,” Lewis said. “It’s radically rare to have it twice. … It was a shock.”

Lewis, 47 and the father of three, is preparing to travel to Houston, Texas, for further treatment starting in mid December. He’s already started chemo – and lost his lush strawberry blonde hair. “I hadn’t seen my skull since I was 15,” he said with a characteristic chuckle.

“I was healthy going into (treatment); that helps a lot,” Lewis added. “But it’s going to be a long slog.”

During the early months of 2023, Lewis noticed a rash on the small of his back. In a month, it doubled in size. His doctors at first thought it was dermatitis; the chances of it being angiosarcoma were so slim.

Lewis’s cancer was finally diagnosed in late September and he stepped away from his Arboretum duties to start treatment. “I’m going to give it all I got,” he said.

Lewis consulted with doctors at University of California, San Francisco. In Texas, he’ll consult with Dr. Vinod Ravi, the leading expert in treating angiosarcoma in the U.S., at the University of Texas’ M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

“It’s expensive,” Lewis said. “It costs a lot of money just to have them look at my records.”

Friends and Arboretum patrons are now rallying around their “beloved green warrior,” raising funds to help support his treatment and recovery.

“Taylor's unwavering commitment to friends and family, coupled with his boundless positive energy and dedication to the Arboretum and the environment, has deeply impacted our community,” wrote longtime UC Davis Arboretum volunteer Kili Bong on Lewis’ GoFundMe page. “His ever-present good nature, invaluable guidance to both budding and seasoned gardeners, and his innate ability to help them design and cultivate the gardens of their dreams, have touched countless lives over the years. Today, he needs our support more than ever.”